Health and Wellnes for people with Digestive Disorders

Recently I have been experimenting with Cultured Cabbage Juice, and although I seem to be getting less interest from the ladies after drinking it – it does make me feel better.

I got the idea from this web page . What I basically do is chop up cabbage, fine enough so your blender can handle it. Toss it in the blender along with enough water to fill the blender about 2/3 of the way full and then blend until there is just cabbage liquid. I then add the cabbage liquid to a large 2L ice tea jug. I fill it with two more blenders full of the cabbage liquid, cover the top with a paper towel secured by a rubber band, and then wait. Continue Reading »

It’s been a while since I have posted, but want to give a quick update. I am doing pretty good. I still have Crohn’s and it is still up and down, but haven’t had any of what I call flares – bad cramping episodes, and/or diarrhea. Fresh yogurt is still the miracle drug – if I have been eating bad, smoking, or just generally not taking care of myself – I’ll make some yogurt and have around a cup or so warm. It seems to really calm things down.

In the future I’ll be giving updates about my health, but more frequently be talking about some of the other ways you can help treat your disease. I’ll also be doing some posts on current research/news and important research from the past.

One of the most important things that you can do is to find a doctor that is willing to listen to you. This is probably also one of the hardest – it has been for me.

When I was young I went to the same doctor who told me what drugs to take and I listened and followed the plan. My parents were in charge of my health and I was basically along for the ride. Luckily the doctor I had wasn’t bad. On a couple of occasions where, looking back on it I could have lost my colon, he opted for non-invasive treatments that worked. When I moved away for college I kept seeing him until he wanted to put me on Fosomax after being on prednisone for a short taper. I could see the wheels churning. Fosomax wants to expand their market, long-term prednisone use can cause bone density loss. Drug company sends cute rep to give presentation to doctor on how Fosomax increases bone density, now suddenly everyone that sees this doctor that has been on prednisone gets prescribed Fosomax. From a drug companies point of view this makes perfect business sense, from a patients perspective this borders on treachery. You go to a doctor to get impartial medical advice, not to speak with a sales rep.

I demanded a bone density scan before I would take that medicine, it turned out fine and I decided it was time to find a new doctor.

The next doctor I tried was an academic. He was one of the doctors responsible for the research behind how NSAIDS can actually increase inflammation in people with inflammatory bowel disease. Important research, smart dude, but poor doctor. I spoke with him for less then 5 minutes, 4 minutes of which was him talking about his research, 1 spent listing the drugs to take (6mp.. the standard Crohns drugs). When I tried to discuss my past experiences with the drugs he wanted me to take he wouldn’t hear it, he had another patient to see. That was a frustrating encounter. I didn’t see a doctor again for over a year and a half.

I decided I would try again to find a doctor. I called the academic’s nurse for a recommendation of another doctor and she gave me the name of someone who they refer people like me too ? . People like me… people that want to discuss their health with their doctor, be listened too… is that not everybody?

The first visit with her was good, as a new patient she wanted to do a colonoscopy. I hadn’t had one done in years so I told her that she could check out my toosh.. My combined salary/poor insurance kept me from seeing her again for almost a year until about a month ago. At my last visit we talked for about 20 minutes… she gave me the updates on current Crohn’s research. I told her what I was doing and what was working. We had a great discussion about the placebo effect and how a lot of current Crohn’s meds, while effective, have about the same efficacy as their placebo counterparts in trials. It was just a good visit. I came out of that visit feeling refreshed, I had been listened too, not lectured at.

I wish there were an easy way to find a good doctor, like a website that lets you rate and discuss doctors, but I don’t know of one. Your best bet is to ask around, see who other Crohn’s sufferers are seeing and who they are avoiding.

So you’ve been outside all day, working hard. You’re tired – Ready for a comfortable seat and some cabbage juice.

Cabbage juice is probably not the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of a refreshing drink, but it is a potent anti-inflammatory and a powerful aid to help heal an injured gut.

My first experience with cabbage juice came when I was 14 or so. I was sick and my parents were trying everything they could do to get me well. Our doctor recommended talking to a local couple that had healed their son with Crohns disease by having him drink cabbage juice. The night we were scheduled to go over to their house the weather was terrible. It was a mix of snow and freezing rain, and the roads were slick. I still remember spinning out in the little black Nissan Sentra we used to have, but we made it home safely.

We went out and bought a juicer and my dear mom would juice me cabbage. At the time I couldn’t stand the taste, and she would add some lemon juice which would just make it worse. Hint: Mix carrots with the cabbage for a better tasting juice. Don’t add lemon juice! Eventually, she just stopped making it because I wouldn’t drink it.

Years went by and I forgot about the whole episode. But in college when I was really trying to get my health under control I found some information on cabbage juice, dusted off the juicer (yes, it still worked!) and bought some cabbage.

Apparently in 1949 a man named Dr Garnett Cheney began to study the effects of cabbage juice on stomach ulcers. The findings showed that patients with stomach ulcers that drank 4 glasses of raw cabbage juice a day healed in 4 to 10 days. Patients that had normal treatments were in the hospital for an average of 30 days. Apparently there is an active compound in cabbage juice called vitamin U that heals ulcers. This works not only on the stomach, but also in the digestive tract.

I have never drunk 4 glasses of cabbage juice in one day; I think at the max I’ve drunk two. But its nice to know that if I ever felt like overdoing it that it would be OK . Seriously, you can make some great tasting drinks by combing carrot and other juices with the cabbage to make it more palatable. I highly recommend the book The Juicman’s Power of Juicing for some great juicing recipes. Right now its going for $1.98 used on Amazon.